My Friend Was Banned For "Self-Promotion?"

[justgary]

Our first clue was the phrase "shade mitigation". That was a show-stopper for me right there.
Afaik, panels produce electricity when the sun shines on them. Thus, shade is not something to be mitigated. No sun, no juice except mebbe for a little ambient brightness, but that's trivial.

I have done plenty of "shade mitigation" with a Stihl MS-460 chain saw. I wonder if I could patent that?

 

[Crowz]

Well the guys legit as far as getting a patent but what he didn't say is he didn't finish the entire process so its listed as abandoned.

So technically he doesn't have a patent on it I guess.

I'm going to experiment and build something based off what he made. I'm not going to sell it so I'm immune to the rules I guess. I'm curious if it will work and do any good. It boils down to if you could magically remove the panel that was shaded from the array in series would the array make more power in total with the panel removed vs attached and shaded. Easy enough to test and see.

Ive got some pine trees I can't get removed right now and they are pissing me off to no end around 1pm each day and with winter approaching its just going to get worse.

The trees are going to get removed next year for sure but I'm curious if this will make any difference.

*update*
Found another patent of his that is still in effect so he does have a valid patent on it right now.

 

[DIYrich]

I'm curious if it will work and do any good. It boils down to if you could magically remove the panel that was shaded from the array in series would the array make more power in total with the panel removed vs attached and shaded. Easy enough to test and see.

Doesn't the tigo optimizers do that?

 

[Solar Guppy]

Doesn't the tigo optimizers do that?

Optimizer require some power, so they work for example if half the panel is shaded, but full shade they do not help but the bypass diodes should handle that condition.

 

[DIYrich]

Optimizer require some power, so they work for example if half the panel is shaded, but full shade they do not help but the bypass diodes should handle that condition.

They also provide RSD and panel level monitoring, so there is other value to the power they use.

 

[Checkthisout]

"My friend"

Did you mean YOU before creating this profile after your first got banned?


Anyway, don't panels with microinverters already optimize each individual panel?

 

[Watts Happening]

Alright, hear me out…

I’ve got an invention, if you each PaPal me $100, I’ll share the information with you and you’ll never have shading issues again…

Any takers?

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Anyway, don't panels with microinverters already optimize each individual panel?

Yep!

 

[kommando]

Found another patent of his that is still in effect so he does have a valid patent on it right now.

In the UK at least Patents protect against the commercial use of the patented idea. So DIY use is not seen as commercial as no funds other than expense are involved.

5) An act which, apart from this subsection, would constitute an infringement of a patent for an invention shall not do so if;

• (a) it is done privately and for purposes which are not commercial; [or]
• (b) it is done for experimental purposes relating to the subject-matter of the invention;

You would have to check US law to see if the same exception applies.

A patent is a double edged sword, if you do not have the funds to defend the patent by suing any breeches you are effectively giving your invention away by detailing the design.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

In the UK at least Patents protect against the commercial use of the patented idea. So DIY use is not seen as commercial as no funds other than expense are involved.

You would have to check US law to see if the same exception applies.

Generally speaking there has to be financial harm of some sort for a patent holder to have a case. If someone is using it personally, there is no financial harm.

 

[Watts Happening]

Generally speaking there has to be financial harm of some sort for a patent holder to have a case. If someone is using it personally, there is no financial harm.

I think you could certainly argue that someone using your invention absolutely did cause some form of financial harm; they didn’t buy your invention.

Not saying it’s right/wrong/illegal/legal, but it seems like an obvious argument.

 

[rhino]

I still wasn't clear what exact post caused the "ban". I've seen plenty of SS posts that looked like self-promotion to me even thread started about "something big coming"..

 

[Watts Happening]

I still wasn't clear what exact post caused the "ban". I've seen plenty of SS posts that looked like self-promotion to me even thread started about "something big coming"..

1,000%

Rules are always bent when there is financial gain.

 

[Supervstech]

I still wasn't clear what exact post caused the "ban". I've seen plenty of SS posts that looked like self-promotion to me even thread started about "something big coming"..

Please report any such.
We admins don't see every thread or post.

 

[Supervstech]

1,000%

Rules are always bent when there is financial gain.

Not on this site...

 

[timselectric]

I still wasn't clear what exact post caused the "ban". I've seen plenty of SS posts that looked like self-promotion to me even thread started about "something big coming"..

It was removed.
The thread was about dealing with shading.
This person's first post was that there was no solution, until now. His great invention would solve any shading issues.
And he posted links to YouTube videos and his website. Where you can support it financially.

 

[OPTIMALSOLAR]

Yep!

Micro inverters eliminate effect of panel x on panel y, but how do they optimize the each panel individually. Isn't that the function of bi pass diodes?

 

[Crowz]

Did anyone see this at the California RE+ show?

"SonSpot Halo premiered at the RE+ Renewable Energy Trade Show in Anaheim, CA this week and appeared in the North American Clean Energy publication September 21 - 23, 2022."

This is his invention. Since were allowed to post what we find if not involved in it

 

[Crowz]

He claims it allows you to do away withe blocking diodes which saves power but something has to power his setup which to me would cost more power to run than anything the blocking diodes are eating. So I doubt that claim being right or useful.

 

[Symbioquine]

Micro inverters eliminate effect of panel x on panel y, but how do they optimize the each panel individually. Isn't that the function of bi pass diodes?

Microinverters apply their MPPT algorithm at a per-panel level so there is no need to "bypass" a given panel (though the strings of cells in the panel might still have bypass diodes). If there isn't very much sun, then the affected microinverter(s) will simply contribute less power to "the grid" it's connected to. Theoretically, you could do the same thing with "micro-charge-controllers" - one per panel. (there are some practical challenges mostly associated with typical panel/battery voltages and market forces)

There's no free lunch. Any active or passive solution to shading will have a cost - usually in terms of consuming some of the power along the way. (We can imagine strategies involving mechanical switching groups of panels around to reconfigure arrays that [mostly] wouldn't have that problem during normal operation but would introduce a lot of complexity, cost, and failure points.)